That's a fascinatingly stark landscape. I've visited rural communities in Mexico (semi-arid), Ecuador (highland grass lands), and SE Asia (jungle) that have that same remote village vibe, and the lifestyle similarity makes the contrast with the landscape all the more fascinating. I've also visited the Gobi desert (at least, the edge of the Gobi, where the mile-high sand dunes meet the endless grass lands) and that landscape in Iran somehow seems so much more desolate.
[1] Maybe the author wasn't using the terminology correctly, or the terminology shifted or was refined subsequently, but in the article, "A precarious balance upset", from the 1977 publication the author suggests that desertification can at least in principle lead to aridification as stripping the land of vegetation dries out the soil, which can ultimately effect precipitation patterns. EDIT: Okay, I think I get it now. It's the reverse: aridification can lead to long-term desertification, while there other processes that can establish long-term desertification, notwithstanding the end result is also aridity.
Judging by this 1977 UNESCO publication, "A Halt to Desert Advance", https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000046663, this recent IPCC report on desertification, https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/chapter/chapter-3/, and the consistency between them, it would seem grazing is indeed considered a major factor, if not the major factor in many areas, for desertification[1].
[1] Maybe the author wasn't using the terminology correctly, or the terminology shifted or was refined subsequently, but in the article, "A precarious balance upset", from the 1977 publication the author suggests that desertification can at least in principle lead to aridification as stripping the land of vegetation dries out the soil, which can ultimately effect precipitation patterns. EDIT: Okay, I think I get it now. It's the reverse: aridification can lead to long-term desertification, while there other processes that can establish long-term desertification, notwithstanding the end result is also aridity.